Qualcomm Ventures eyes India startups to build low-cost AI for the world

Mint. “With the population and purchasing power that the country has, companies can't afford to make solutions which are not designed with the Indian price point in mind.”Qualcomm's chief executive Cristiano Amon had announced the AI-focused $150 million fund at the India AI Impact Summit held in Delhi last month.

With the new fund, the firm plans to invest across deeptech, AI applications spanning both B2B and B2C markets, and enterprise technology.San Diego-based Qualcomm Ventures, at least in India, is particularly focused on companies built around artificial intelligence from the outset rather than startups adding AI features to existing products to keep up with the surge of interest in the technology.“Fundamentally, founders who are pushing the envelope on difficult problem statements and are looking to solve them from an Indian perspective are the kind of people that excite us,” Bethmangalkar said.One area the firm is especially bullish on is physical AI, including robotics systems that can automate industrial workflows, he said. It's an area where companies and investors are increasingly looking to reduce labour while simultaneously ensuring minimal downtime.Premji Invest recently led a $450 million round in AI robotics company Rhoda AI with participation from Khosla Ventures, Temasek Holdings and Silicon Valley billionaire John Doerr, valuing the company at $1.7 billion.Homegrown robotics company CynLr last month announced a new tech suite which lets robots learn on the fly, much like a human child, instead of requiring reinforcement learning.